Digital Signature Certificate

Digital Signature Certificate (DSC), the name itself indicates the signature of a particular person is been digitalised for the further procedure and process. Since, the growth and improvement in technology and digitalisation have taken place, the requirement of DSC of the higher authorities is becoming mandatory now-a-days because our country is moving towards digitalised Economy.

When you consider the procedure and process in a company, starting from Incorporation to Winding up of any organisation DSC is obligatory. It should bind the Law. Digital Signature Certificate are the digital counterpart of physical or paper certificates.

The digital certificates are presented in an electronic format in order to prove one’s identity, to access information or service in the internet or to sign certain documents digitally.

REQUIREMENT AND ISSUING AUTHORITY

If you take physical documents, they are signed manually. Likewise, e-forms requires to be signed. So, Digital Signature Certificate DSC are necessary to sign the e-forms digitally.

DSC is issued by the Licensed Certifying Authorities (CAs). Certifying authorities are the persons who have been given License to issue the Digital Signature Certificate.

For your kind information, the list of Licensed Certifying Authority along with their contacting information are available in Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) Portal. The CAs are as follows

National Informatics Centre

IDRBT

SAFE SCRYPT

(n) code solutions

E- Mudhra

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

CDAC

NSDL

Capricorn

Now you know what is DSC and from whom you obtain DSC. But not the process for obtaining DSC from certifying authority. Here come the details regarding the process. It is so simple.

The person or the applicant who is willing to acquire DSC can directly approach certifying authority with original supportive documents and self-attested copies. It can also b offered by using Aadhar and eKYC based authentication.

A letter or certificate of DSC applicant’s information issued b bank and should be certified by the Bank or Manager is required and necessary for their purpose.

The cost of obtaining a DSC may vary as there are many entities issuing DSC and their charges may differ.

VALIDITY

The validity of the DSC is One or Two Years.

PARTICULARS OF DSC

The DSC contains information about the user’s name, pin code, country, e-mail address, date of issuance of certificate and name of the certifying authority.

CLASSES OF DSC

There are three different types of DSCs issued by the certifying authorities. Depending on the need of DSC, one must apply.

Class I Certificate

These certificates are issued to individual or private subscribers and are used to confirm that the user’s name and contact details should lie within the database of the CA.

Class II Certificate

These are the certificates which are issued to the director or signatory authorities of the companies for the purpose of e-filing with ROC. It is mandatory for the individuals who have to sign manual documents while filing the returns.

Class III Certificate

These certificates are issued to online participants/ bidding e-auctions and online tenders anywhere in India.